The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1887-01-19
FAIR PLAY FOR WOMEN.
The Superiority of the Female Librarians
Who Bave Had Charge of the
States Literature.
Written for the sentinel1

make cutting remarks about its being "a
sinecure for some woman" or ga pension for
female relative of some politician" They
roll up their eyes and mournfully hope for
the day when the State Will be raised to
prosperity by putting a man in this office.
The most remarkable characteristic of these
high minded people is their lofty contempt
for facts. 1t has never been my fortune to
meet one OF them who had any acquaintance
with the library or its history, or who
had any intelligent idea of ats needs.
Still, they have so persistently repeated their
misrepresentation, and so circulated their
visionary arguments that many people, who
might naturally have been expected to have
more sense, have been convinced. The re-
spective merits of men and women as State
Librarians is not q matter of pure specu-
lation. Both have been tried, and both have
made their records; and women can well
afford to invite comparison of the two. /
will point out few matters of contrast be-
tween the two for the benefit of some of the
highly.cultiVated persons who think that
all women are inferior to the average man.
l will not dwell on the fact that the library
has been kept clean enough to satisfy per-
son of decency by all of the women Ii
brarians, which can not be truthfully said of
it under several of the men. / will pass at
once 10 literary considerations; and first let
me call your attention to the following
article which appeared nearly five years ago
in one of the foremost literary periodicals of
the United States:
To the Editor of the Nation:
If there is to be a photography of bibli-
ographies, your note Of last week contributes
certainly curious instance toward the ma
terial for such work. But l beg that the
future compiler OF that work may not over
look the Catalogue of the Indiana State liz
braIy for 1852" which has long been my
wonder and admiration. So far is it from
attempting the complexity of the catalogue
rdiSO1lRe that Its rigorous alphabeticism sets
down "a Manchester Strike" between Gag
riculture'' and American" 1t invites us to
such tours dc force as the Autobiography of
Sir Simonds D'Ewes, by Halliwell,' and the
autobiography of Sir Wslter Scott by
Bart" Banks History of the Popes" ap-
pears under the letter b. Strong in the his
torical department, it offers choice between
the "Life of John Tyler, by Harper d
Brothers," Memoirs of Moses Henderson,
by the Jewish Philosophers Memoirs and
Correspondence of ViscOunt Castlereach, by
the Marquis of Londonderry" and Memoirs
OF Benvenuto, by Gellini" In fiction you
may find Tales of my Lanlord, by Cleish-
botham," and The Pilot, by the Auditor of
The Pioneers;" while if your passion for
plural authorship is otherwise unappeas-
able-if Beaumont and Fletcher or Erck-
mann Chatrian seem to you too feeble a
combination OF talents-you may well be
the United States Army"
The State of Indiana has undoubtedly
learned good many things since 1859; but,
whoever its present Librarian may be- it is
hardly probable that her highest fight in
photography has surpassed the catalogue
from which have quoted. 7. b.
Rochester, Feb. 6, 1882.
(The Nation, Feb. IS, 1SS2-vol. 81 p. 1922
Searching as this criticism is, it might
have been more severe. It's writer had no
opportunity to know that what he mentions
as Banks History of the Popes" was in fact
the celebrated work of Ranke. Neither did
he have opportunity to compare the titles of
they were supposed to be taken, or he would
have found a series of blunders equal TO the
most charming features Of English as She is
Spoke" The Librarian who published this
catalogue, which reflects so much credit on
the State was a man-Mr. James r. Bryant.
1t is true IS ct. B." remarks, that Indiana
has Learned good many things since 1883"
but its progress in this department of learn
ing was not very perceptible while men were
Librarians. In proof of this it will be neces-
sary only to examine the last two catalogues
published. One of them was published in
1869. In it number of the errors
of 1859 did not appear, owing, prob
ably, to a condensation OF titles which was
made but it offered to the bib
liophie such treasures as ''Kendall's Slnte
Fee Expedition, f" 1.-THE Marble Fawn, ""Noc-
ties, Ambrosiana," "Apocraphal New Tes5s-
ment," and a number of similar curiosities.
1t was especially rich in French books.
Among the more noteworthy are "Adven-
lures de Telemague," "Anigation" "a work
Paris and Essa Sur lie Calorique." Histories
appear under the names Historic" His
toirie," or 'Histoaire," thus leaving priv
ilege of selection to the reader. The greatest
attraction in this list is a monograph on the
potato, which appears as "M0uO de Graphic
La Pomme de Terre." There also appears
under the same head OF French Works, Z"
the title "Biblionum Sacronum," which the
catalogue prudently informs US, in brackets
is Latin. This addition to our literature was
issued by Mr.. NJ. G. McLain.
In 1872 the State was blessed with another
catalogue, in which most of the eccentrici-
ties of genius that made its immediate pred
ecessor attractive were carefully repro
duced The French titles are evidently re-
printed direct from the catalogue OF 1869, as
they retain the same errors, even to errors of
Typography. The "Biblionum Sacronum,"
the "Mouo de Graphic La Pomme de Terre"
the "Histoire de Universelle," and all the
remainder of that goodly gathering, still
wave, without stripe effaced or a star
blOtted out. The Librarian has enriched
the French Works" department, however,
by adding to it & "Codigo Civil De La Re-
publioa" (the Spanish code of Argentine Re-
public) and "Curso de Maticas" Ia Spanish
course in mathematics, presumably. This
valuable list of books. also, was prepared by
q man-Mr. James De SannO. There is, I'M
fortunately. no printed catalogue for which
a woman can claim credit, as none has ever
been provided for by the Legislature.
Women haven't sense enough TO make cata-
| logues. A trained man" is needed for such
work Perhaps the statement might be
ventured that no living woman, aud very
| few dead ones, could have eclipsed these
| phenomenal productions.
There are many persons living in Indian
| apolis who remember the reforms instituted
by Mrs. 0ren, the first woman who served
as Librarian, not only in the library proper,
| but in the entire State building, of which
| the Librarian has been for many years the
| legal custodian. The whole building was
cleaned and disinfected; chimneys, ventila-
| tors and fues, which had became stopped
up, were opened and cleared; the grimy
walls were papered; the steps and pavements
| of the porches were repaired to an extent
which would permit one to walk over them
| without becoming sea-sick; the dilapidated
softcoal stoves were replaced by base-burn.
| eIs water-pipes were put in; the regimental
flags were carefully busted and bound up;
the legislative papers which had not yet been
/ eaten by mice were taken from the musty
/ = 81 i'll In nc